Coming Home
by Lada Hitam
Summary: One reason for Sasuke to come back to Konoha. SasuNaru.
1. Chapter 1

I'm soooo not sure with this fic since it really lacks something important, but it just wrote itself and I couldn't find the thing that would make it right or better, even after I read it over and over again. Well, whatever… shrugs, when I get the inspiration, I'll fix it, if not, I'll just let it be. So, comment, please?

Kinda inspired by **twoifbysea**'s **Relative Humidity**, and in the middle of writing this, **Michael Buble**'s **Home** got stuck in my mind and helped me to decide the ending. Dedicated to people who came wailing to me (or mentally cursing me) after reading **When Sasuke Loved** and to people on my LJ for their understanding and kind words after one of my rants.

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Coming Home 

In the end, they were the last two standing in the battlefield littered with bodies, some alive but unconscious, some as dead as a stone, some dying if left unattended any longer, and some still awake enough to watch them but have no power left to stand, moreover to interfere with their fight. It was like it used to be four years ago or maybe a lifetime ago…, always the two of them facing each other in the endless, deadly dance of rivalry and friendship, of love and hate.

Sasuke didn't know why Naruto was so adamant in taking him back to Konoha. He had run to Orochimaru in his own free will, he had hurt Naruto, even almost killed him, when that Dobe blocked his path, and still Naruto wanted him to come back. It's not for revenge, it's not for his sense of justice, it's not for paving his road in becoming the Hokage, and it's not even for his promise to Sakura, Sasuke knew that for sure. So, why did they repeat this useless fight once more?

Too many people had been hurt when he decided to seek power from Orochimaru, Sasuke knew that, and he also knew for sure that his act was unforgivable, a grave mistake that he must pay handsomely if he should come back to Konoha. Sasuke didn't regret leaving his village and consorting with the enemy, didn't regret the wrong path he'd chosen in order to kill Itachi and avenge his murdered Clan, what he did regret was knowing that by doing so, he had hurt his friends. Especially Naruto, the one whom he had protected by his own body and later, he had hurt by his own hands.

Sasuke actually was tired. Tired of living as an avenger, tired of denying the guilt, tired of trying to forget the haunting blue eyes and sunny smile. But, what could he do? He couldn't just let go of everything he has gained so far. An eye for an eye, they said. So, if Naruto wanted him to come back, he should offer him something that he couldn't refuse, something equal, or better, more than what he had now.

Exhausted and depleted of chakra, Sasuke asked the boy before him.

"Give me one reason why I should come back."

"Huh?" Naruto was taken aback by the sudden question since he's expecting a physical blow, not a verbal question.

"Are you deaf, Dobe?" Sasuke smirked, and unconsciously relaxed his posture.

"What the hell you called me, you teme!" Naruto automatically replied, complete with indignant expression and raised fists, and just like that, the dangerous tension between them melted.

"I'm serious, Dobe," the smirk vanished and Sasuke didn't have to say it aloud to convey the importance of this Question and Answer game.

Naruto might be a dobe, but he knew a critical situation, a situation where his life and death depended on his thought alone, when he saw it. Moreover, he already knew the answer for this question since a long time ago and the answer did never changed and never would.

A determined look in his blue eyes, Naruto put all his heart and thought on his answer, so that Sasuke would believe, that for Sasuke, he's still the same Naruto as the Naruto from four years ago.

"Because Sasuke is my most important and precious person. Always has. Always will."

And no more words were needed after such answer, because that simple answer has answered all the questions Sasuke had and it has erased all the doubts clouding Sasuke's mind. It was the words of his absolution and it promised him so much more than what he had right now.

Unbidden, a smile stretched Sasuke's grim mouth, then a chuckle escaped and he just couldn't stop it coming, like he couldn't stop thinking about his most important and precious person all those time he's away from that person.

"You are a complete and total moron, Naruto." Sasuke said once his chuckle has quieted down.

And Naruto would have bristled and retorted back angrily for that comment if not for the tone that Sasuke used when he said that words. It was full of resignation, of acknowledgement, of relief, and of affection. And with those words said, Naruto knew that he has given the right reason for Sasuke to come back home.

"Let's go home, Sasuke," Naruto said solemnly, eyes never leaving the figure before him.

A content smile as bright as the sun and the sparkling blue eyes as brilliant as the summer sky that Sasuke has missed so much, an outstretched hand that once he took it, neither he nor the owner of that hand would ever let go again, and Sasuke knew for sure that he's coming home.

FIN.

Another summer day  
Is come and gone away  
In Paris and Rome  
But I wanna go home  
Mmmmmmmm

Maybe surrounded by  
A million people I  
Still feel all alone  
I just wanna go home  
Oh I miss you, you know

And I've been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you  
Each one a line or two  
"I'm fine baby, how are you?"  
Well I would send them but I know that it's just not enough  
My words were cold and flat  
And you deserve more than that

Another aeroplane  
Another sunny place  
I'm lucky I know  
But I wanna go home  
Mmmm, I've got to go home

Let me go home  
I'm just too far from where you are  
I wanna come home

And I feel just like I'm living someone else's life  
It's like I just stepped outside  
When everything was going right  
And I know just why you could not  
Come along with me  
But this was not your dream  
But you always believe in me

Another winter day has come  
And gone away  
And even Paris and Rome  
And I wanna go home  
Let me go home

And I'm surrounded by  
A million people I  
Still feel alone  
Oh, let go home  
Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home  
I've had my run  
Baby, I'm done  
I gotta go home  
Let me go home  
It will all right  
I'll be home tonight  
I'm coming back home

Michael Buble – Home


	2. Someone Who Only Loves You More

This fic is dedicated for my wonderful beta, Helgaleena who doesn't know at all about Naruto world, but still kind enough to beta this fic for me. I'm hoping that by continuously beta-ing my Naruto fics, she'll be interested in Naruto 

Inspired by this quote from a Harry Potter fanfic, _The Truth of Out Transgressions_ by Roxierocks:  
_Too many transgressions can make a star shines brighter.  
"It means that you can make every mistake in the world, a thousand misdemeanours and there will still be someone who only loves you more for it."_

**Someone Who Only Loves You More**

Sometimes in the night, Sasuke would wake up, and gazing at his sleeping companion, he would wonder if this miracle of being loved back by the one he loved had really happened to him, or if he deserved the happiness and comfort of going through the days, sleeping, and waking up next to his beloved. What good and right things had he done to warrant this blessed life with Naruto? But, whenever that question started to nag at him, and he began to doubt himself, he would remember with such clarity the answer that Naruto gave, the one true reason that made him leave Orochimaru and his wrong quest for power to come back to Konoha.

"Because Sasuke is my most important and precious person. Always has been. Always will be."

And then, when his doubt was quenched and he was at peace in his heart and mind, he would remember another answer, different words yet with the same meaning, from the one that used to be his most important and precious person.

_"Too many transgressions can make a star shines brighter." Itachi said with a faraway look on his eyes._

"What does it mean, Aniki?" Innocent, naïve little boy that Sasuke was, he couldn't understand the meaning of such words, the depth of such wisdom.

That faraway look on Itachi's face was gone, and now he focused his whole attention on his beloved little brother standing before him. Then a rare, gentle smile, meant only for Sasuke's eyes, graced the normally cold features.

"It means that you can make every mistake in the world, a thousand misdemeanours and there will still be someone who only loves you more for it." Itachi said seriously. And taking his brother's hands in his, he locked his crimson shadowed black eyes with the pure black of his little brother's. "No matter what happens, I want you to always remember this, Otouto."

Back then Sasuke didn't really understand the meaning of those words, didn't realize the intense emotion and the almost pleading look accompanying that heated gaze. But on a night like this, when he has had his fill of watching his lover's angelic sleeping face, and he felt so content and happy that it felt like drifting on a warm blue ocean, he would turn his head towards the window, and catching a look at the crimson moon, he would silently, fleetingly ask that lurking shadow an eternally unanswered question:

"Aniki, when you said those words to me, when you made me promise to always remember them, when you killed our parents and the whole Clan and spared only me, were you hoping that I could be that someone who would only love you more, despite every mistake, and the thousand misdemeanours you had made?"

FIN.


End file.
